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London Underground 2009 Stock
The 2009 Tube Stock is a type of London Underground train built by Bombardier as part of its Movia family at its Derby Litchurch Lane Works, England. A total of 47 eight-car units have been built for the Victoria line, entering passenger service between July 2009 and June 2011 and replacing the 1967 Tube Stock. It was the first new train on the network since the 1996 Tube Stock entered service in 1997. Description The trains are part of a £3.4 billion contract awarded by the now-defunct Metronet to Bombardier to supply new trains featuring Automatic Train Operation and signalling for the Victoria line and other deep tube lines. This upgrade, when completed in 2012, is expected to provide improved reliability, an 8% decrease in journey times between stations, and a 16% overall decrease in journey times. This is due in part to the trains having better performance than the 1967 Stock they replaced - they have a higher top speed of , a faster maximum acceleration of , a normal service deceleration of , and an emergency brake deceleration of , the same as the 1992 Tube Stock. At peak times, 43 trains should be in service, an increase of six over the 1967 Stock. The trains are wider than the 1967 Stock to take advantage of the Victoria line's loading gauge, which is slightly larger than those of other deep-level tube lines. This, however, prevents them from leaving the Victoria line, except by road. The trains seat 252 and have standing space for an estimated 1,196 passengers, giving a 19% increase in capacity over the 1967 Stock. They also have wider doors for easier boarding and alighting of passengers in order to reduce dwell times in stations. The trains have been built with Bombardier's FICAS technology, giving a thinner bodyshell and hence (along with the larger size) more internal space for passengers. They are the first London Underground trains to be designed since the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations were introduced, so they have more facilities for people with impaired mobility, including multi-purpose areas with tip-up seats and space for wheelchairs and pushchairs, and offset centre door poles for wheelchair access. The trains were the longest deep-level tube trains on the system when introduced, at , longer than the 1967 Stock. The more recently introduced sub-surface S Stock, which is also part of Bombardier's Movia family and was ordered under the same contract, is longer still. They are said to use a modified version of the traction pack used on Bombardier's Electrostar trains. They have CCTV cameras and dot-matrix displays to show real-time service information. As with the 1973 stock, the driver can select between two settings for audio announcements: "commuter" and "tourist". They maintain a fixed height to keep the train in profile under different loading patterns and regardless of the extent of wheel wear. Unlike most other London Underground trains, they have their Combined Traction/Brake Controller (driver's manual controls, often called "dead man's handle") on the right-hand side of the cab, as most of the platforms on the Victoria line are on the right. Access to the cab for driver changes is easier than on the 1967 Stock: an external side door is fitted, whereas the cab in the 1967 Stock had to be accessed through the passenger compartment, which could be difficult at rush hour. Each train is made up of two 4-car units of the configuration Driving Motor - Trailer - Non Driving Motor - Uncoupling (Shunting) Non Driving Motor, which are coupled back-to-back. The trains are maintained at the Victoria line's Northumberland Park Depot, with Bombardier staff on site for warranty parts replacement. They were originally intended to have all-motored axles as in the 1992 Stock, so that they would have enough traction and acceleration for faster running times; however, it was later decided that 75% of motored axles would be sufficient, which reduced project costs by around £10 million (about 3.5% of the overall cost). They have mechanical-only Scharfenberg couplers. Introduction into service The design of the trains was finalised in September 2004. Manufacture of two pre-production trains began in January 2005, the first scheduled to be completed by mid-2006. On 3 February 2006, Metronet announced that the first of the pre-production cars had been completed in preparation for static testing. From 21 July to 4 August 2006, a mock-up of the train was on show at Euston Square Gardens, near Euston Square Underground station, for a customer acceptance test followed by public display. From September 2006, the first pre-production train underwent testing at Bombardier's manufacturing and test site at Derby Litchurch Lane Works. It was due to be delivered to London Underground by the end of 2006 for testing on the Victoria line during engineering hours but this did not occur until May 2007. It was also used for driver and maintenance training and familiarisation. The second pre-production train was also tested on the Victoria line during engineering hours, and was expected to begin trial running in full passenger service in July 2008. However, this date slipped twice, first to January 2009 and then to July 2009. The train finally entered service on 21 July 2009, leaving Northumberland Park depot at 23:00 and forming the 23:55 service between and . Main production commenced at the end of 2009, with one train entering passenger service every two weeks from February 2010. By mid-2011, there was a sufficient number of trains in service to allow the withdrawal of the few remaining 1967 Stock trains, the last of which ran on 30 June 2011.